Confederate States of America: $20 Chemicograph Back Intended for 1864 Confederate Currency

Originally issued as a set of "notes" that consisted of six Chemicograph backs with designs that were intended for the 1864 issues of the $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, and $500 denominations. Back plates with these designs were ordered by the Confederate Treasury from S. Straker & Sons of London. The plates were made and shipped from London in early January 1864, only to disappear. Several more shipments were made, but none of these got through the Union blockade. Examples of the plates were found 75 years later and were donated to the Smithsonian Institution.